would you rather be too hot or too cold?

i recently alluded to my hatred toward temperature imbalances and the fact that "everyone knows" how i feel.  later, i realized that i'm not quite sure everyone does.

with the psychotic weather here this year, the question of "would you rather be hot or cold" has often come up.  during conversations surrounding this question, i often get distressed, begin sweating, and am just generally miserable.  i don't believe i need to explain how the body reacts to being cold and being hot, everyone shivers and has tense muscles in the cold and (most)everyone sweats when they're hot.  and no, i'm not saying that i'm the only one that dislikes either of these circumstances -- i'm simply saying that i really really really dislike these circumstances.

getting dressed in the morning is a feat for me not only because i'd like to look nice, but because i am PARANOID about being too hot or too cold.  i believe that this may be why i'm almost always dressed in layers. because what if i get hot?! i can take a sweater/scarf/jacket/shirt/whatever off. but what if i get cold?! i can add a sweater/scarf/hat/jacket.  on a day when i have dressed inappropriately for the temperature, like this one, i am just in a bad mood. why didn't i plan better? where was my extra layer? why didn't i correctly anticipate the temperature difference during the day?!

when thinking about the question, "would you rather be too hot or too cold?" i generally consider the extremes of "sweating a lot" and "numb fingers and toes."  when these are the options, i would most certainly choose cold. reasons: physical activity could help you warm up (you know, to prevent death), i would be wearing lots of layers, potentially, i could still look presentable (no sweat-running makeup all over the place).  reasons against excess warmth: your skin sticks together when there isn't clothing in the way (or the clothing is drenched in sweat), my face gets really really red when i'm hot and sweaty - no one wants to see that, just, ew.

so while these are the normal extremes to my version of this debate, with friends in the dolomites, the conversation took an entirely more extreme route.  there were mentions of death by heat stroke, being burnt alive, melting skin, and on the other end of the spectrum similar freezing-to-death-while-alive scenarios.  i wish i could think of some of the more horrible too hot or too cold death scenarios because i believe some of them were rather hilarious.  i'm sure i blocked them out of my memory so as to retain the extremes of "shivering" and "sweating" i had come to be almost comfortable with.

so. think about it. would you rather be too hot or too cold?!

x!

[while writing this, i've gone back and forth between having the chills and being a bit too warm for my liking.]

goals getting squashed by the rain

over the weekend, i made a list of all the posts i want to make and the list is rather lengthy.  so! i made a goal of blogging once every week day, monday through friday, starting today.  in addition to the list of overdue posts, things happen around here on a very regular basis that i also like to keep you all updated on (all 5 of you who read regularly), which means my list of "things i need to post" will only be growing.  i needed to create some sort of schedule to keep me on point.

however, today il tempo fa schifo (the weather sucks).  it's one of those rainy, colder-than-you-thought-when-you-were-getting-dressed, foggy days that makes you just want to curl up in bed with a good book (we all know how i feel about the rain and unanticipated temperature fluctuations).  i had the following conversation with my lizzy about the weather while i was doing laundry (another thing that makes me go "ugh"):

me: ugh
lizzy: yeah this weather sucks.  but today is supposed to be the worst of it.... bora might come later this week.
me: ughhhhhhh bora is coming?!
lizzy: yeah i think so, someone told me that it was coming
me: it sounds like the bora is a dreaded relative coming to visit
lizzy: i don't think it's going to be bitter cold, i think it will be more like the bora that just blows all these clouds away.
me: oh! we like that bora!
lizzy: yeah! so it's like that cousin that your hot and cold with instead of the always dreadful relative.

so, there you have it. we're preparing for the arrival of our sometimes dreaded cousin to hopefully clear out these clouds and just jump ahead from april showers to may flowers.

all is not lost, though, on this rainy monday -- thanks to daylight savings time, it's not dark yet AND before checking the weather forecast we made plans for a fajita dinner.  what it does mean is that this non-planned blog post will be today's and i won't be checking anything off my list (unless i add this to my list so that i can check something off - something i'm not above doing).

see you tomorrow when (hopefully) the clouds are gone and i'm full of a delicious mexican dinner.

x!

"sLOVEnia, you guys!!"

as i've referenced here and here, slovenia is an incredible country and i'm obsessed.  i'm so glad that being here in trieste has given me the opportunity to explore the country -- i'm not sure i would have made the time to visit otherwise.

for example: this is at the bus stop near where i tutor on thursday afternoons. that blue road sign says "slovenia" with an arrow.  how cool is it that slovenia is so close, there are road signs directing you. to ANOTHER COUNTRY!

a few weekends ago brought beautiful weather and with friends visiting, i was forced (ha) to make moves to some beautiful sights.  with a macchina that we rented, it was easy to hit some major attractions nearby.

we went to ljubljana, which i love - as you've heard before.  it's the capital of slovenia and there's a large student population there.  we ate amazing indian food (YUM, anything but pasta really gets me going at this point) and then had a night out on the town that can be summarized pretty completely by the photo to the right

needless to say, this brunch (see below) was very necessary. not quite as good as boylan's brunch, but it was pretty damn good.  and it was in slovenia.

also con la macchina, we stopped at a little castle called predjama castle just outside of the postonja caves 

and i mean, if you can't tell, this castle is literally carved out of the side of this rockface. seriously!? INSANE.

seeing the sunset at lake bled was pretty gorgeous. we all know how i feel about the sun setting; i kind of like the bella vistas. and the views around bled were much better than the first time i went when it was a bit overcast. 

the best thing about all of these hidden gems in slovenia, is that they're SO CLOSE to trieste!  on sunday, when i met up with a friend in venice and was sharing stories from my weekend, she said, "hold on, you were in slovenia yesterday?!" yep, it's only a stone's throw away. and yesterday, i was exploring the beautiful coastal town of piran.  piran (or pirano, in italiano) has been rightfully dubbed the "dubrovnik of the north adriatic" -- it was gorgeous.  

after some wandering, a little coffee/postcard break (stamps in slovenia are still relatively inexpensive to the states)

and watching the sunset (of course) by the seaside while posing for perfectly balanced photographs.

so, hopefully i've effectively explained the wonders of slovenia so that you will be interested in visiting this little hidden treat of a country.  i know that personally, i would have never added slovenia to my bucket list and so, as i said, i'm very glad that it was somewhat forced upon me.  

x

freckles! it's about time.

today has been the best day. the weather is amazing! like, sunshine ALL DAY. went for an amazing run (in preparation for my 10k a milano this weekend) -- note: i accidentally typed "fun" instead of "run" in the past sentence. freudian slip? -- and played lots of soccer with the boys in my class (i scored a goal! they were impressed)

and then, i had the following conversation with a friend which made me laugh about the bora: 

Katie:  im so jealous you have good weather.

 me:  it's amazing

the weather gods OWE me, though

 Katie:  uh oh why?

 me:  it rained all fall here. i mean like months in a row. AND the bora exists

 Katie:  wtf is the bora?

 me:  funny you should ask!

per bien's request, i blogged about it

 Katie:  hahaha perfect

 Katie:  so funny

mostly about the crane

 me:  yeah that was hilarious

i mean a giant crane

just blew away

 Katie:  i mean that's a costly expense

   also a good lie for homework

"it blew away"

a likely story

 me:  hahaha

 Katie:  and then the kid could respond "remember when the bora blew away a crane?...it's definitely possible to blow away my homework"

 me:  hahahahahahahaha

Katie:  im laughing out loud because that would be so clutch

me:  definitely a "pro" to the bora's existence

and then she proceeded to tell me that she and her soon-to-be-groom are buying a house, much like my other close married friends. and this sent me back into fits if indecision about life like that day i entered into my quarter-life crisis. but then she said the following: 

Katie:  so you can come visit me and stay in a guest room!!!

 me:  you're a grown up

OMG

you're going to have a  guest room?!

 Katie:  its sort of exciting that my friends could bring someone home if they visited me

and i laughed. and the day was good again. 

and THEN, i went to a student's house (that was on the side of a mountain and had amazing vistas of the city and sea) and learned how to make meringes! AND i ate amazing homemade italian food, drank delicious vino e prosecco, was told that my italian pronunciation is "perfetto" (which i'm not sure is true but, boh), AND walked in on my students (about 8 boys and girls who were there) playing truth or dare and talking about jabas. mamma mia, to be 10 years old again. 

spring is here! 

x

"happy birthday in retard!"

thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes last week and over the weekend! and i am very much looking forward to receiving all of the belated cards that have been promised... :)

for my birthday, i celebrated last week with friends and neighbors and then spent the weekend in madrid.  on wednesday i was surrounded by many of my favorite people and felt so loved, then in madrid the weather was exceptional and i felt loved by mother nature -- and i had a great time hanging out with jenngel (a more thorough madrid update to come soon).

i arrived back in trieste late last night and was not at all looking forward to monday morning and the beginning of a full week of school.  however, at 8:40 when the students began flooding in, one girl, M, came over to me and said, "good morning miss liz! happy birthday in retard!!!"

"in ritardo" means "late" so i expect that she was attempting to say "happy late birthday" and it was just the cutest thing ever.  i died laughing and it was the best start to a chilly monday morning i could have asked for.

x!

corriandoli EVERYWHERE.

saturday march 4th, we went to venice to celebrate carnevale -- we drank, we snacked, we threw confetti.  to put things modestly, it was a good day.

we started off the day in a way that was incredibly reminiscent of a noon football game day on the lovely grounds of the university of virginia.  now, for all of you who have spent time with me on a game day, you know what this means.  coffee and snack production went on in the kitchen at full force and the train-ride bag was packed beyond sufficiently.   

on the 9:18 train ride, some put on the make-up, some napped, and the best of us began the celebrations. 

immediately upon arrival a venezia santa lucia, the rest of us got our faces painted. 

and we were off! there were 9 of us from school and i assumed that we would split up into smaller groups pretty soon after setting off in the crowd to piazza san marco.  however, somehow, we all managed to stay together. 

everywhere there were people. people in masks, full costumes, face paint, EVERYWHERE. and corriandoli (confetti), which i had forgotten was one of my favorite italian words.  naturally, as soon as we found a moment, we began throwing it everywhere

i mean, everywhere (when i was in venice just a week later, there was a great deal still remaining in the cracks of the cobblestone).

carnevele didn't stop there, however.  i had friends arrive monday afternoon (!!) and tuesday was martedi grasso -- trieste had to buck up and show my guests a good time.  i am glad to say that the city saved face and i was impressed with the festivities.  also here, there was an obscene amount of corriandoli (which remains in piazza unita' now, a week later), we ate, drank, and finally started hanging out with our neighbors.  

carnevale was good and the remaining corriandoli (in the city and in my apartment) is a happy reminder of the week that i reformed my social life a trieste.  (shout out to my ladybird, there).

i've got a bad case of wonderlust.

mom, you started it.  when i read your email as soon as my alarm went off this morning saying, "would you at all be interested in a job in rome?!" i knew the productivity of my tuesday was shot.

really, my 2nd thoughts about returning to the states began on the night of march 4th after returning from the venice carnevale celebrations.  as you may recall, this is when my quarter-life-crisis began with a skype conversation with my parents.  as much as i want to avoid admitting it, my decision to move to nyc in the fall hinged greatly on the fact that i'd be able to travel easily and affordably at least until december 31st.

now that that's not an option, am i really ready to leave europe and the international life i'm currently living? as HM tells me, "it suits no one better." and i have to say, i agree - especially since we've become friends with our neighbors and the weather is improving, my social life has begun to exist again and we all must agree that this is an exciting development as i enter my 25th year of life.

then today, i get a letter from my mom with various clippings from newspapers, inflight magazines, and the like (turning into my grandmother, i swear) including a clip with a travel blog excerpt.  my mom had circled the clip and at the bottom written, "could you contribute to some travel blogs?!"

of course, as soon as i could, i went to the blog link, began exploring the website, applied for an online internship and now have about 14 tabs open with various other travel blogs, travel/adventure books on amazon, guides to the vagabond lifestyle, and links to finding organic farm work.  i think the most appropriate tab holds the amazon page for  the renaissance soul: life design for people with too many passions to just pick one. i mean, could that describe me more accurately?! i think not. (those of you still looking for something to send to me for my birthday -- ahem, i would like this, please)

so, mom, thanks for reawakening my wonderlust with our original skype chat and then for encouraging it with your email and snail mail (that just happened to be received in the same day).  in response to your question email question, "hi, have we met? hell yes i would like a job in rome if you know someone with one to offer."

i must tell you, that you may have (accidentally?) convinced me to not move back to the states in july.....

stay tuned, of course.

x!

cronicles della mia cucina: hummus!

so, being a vegetarian in italy is un po' dificile.  vegetarianism is a concept that they don't quite understand here -- you know, they like eating the animals.  so! while they cook loads of things at school with only veggies -- i was getting sick of eating just pasta/rice/another starch with various sauces at home for dinners.  i was missing my veggie foods that consisted of things other than pasta, veggies, and sauce. 

nothing a quick google search of "how to make hummus" couldn't solve! 

now, i had heard that finding tahini (an ingredient that is essential to hummus production) in bella italia was difficult if not impossible. however, the coolest little bio store down the street did not fail me and has jars of tahini for very cheap. success #1! 

i half followed recipes, and half made it up along the way but essentially, i sauteed a red pepper (because i couldn't find already roasted red peppers) and then mixed everything together in our little hand mixer device (production would be much easier with a food processor, however, we don't have one and i don't want to buy one).  

what is "everything"? i used:

1 can of chickpeas

1/3 cup of tahini

1 or 2 lemons worth of juice

2 tbls olive oil (it's good to use the oil from the jar of red peppers, if you get them already roasted)

1/2 c - 3/4 c of roasted red peppers (i roasted mine with peperoncino)

tobasco sauce (to taste -- this is the crucial ingredient)

then you mix everything together! 

mix as much as you like based on how smooth you like it (haha?)

and enjoy! 

since the first red-pepper hummus experience, i've made multiple other kinds of hummus including pesto hummus and black bean hummus (i found black beans! so exciting).

you can really just put whatever you want in with the chickpea mixture and it should be delicious.

xo!

cronicles della mia cucina: adding to the list

thanks to a few recent email requests to share recipes, i've been given too many new ideas of things to whip up in the kitchen.

at the top of the list, these fully loaded granola bars found on shutterbean.com (a new favorite blog to follow)

soon after, DR's deliciously cheesy risotto that he said "is easy and good if you can find fresh veggies and good cheeses," and i believe italy has both of those things.

and now i'm hungry.

xo!

my new obsession: the combination of writing and design

this is soon-to-be my new hobby. you know, when i have free time. the integration of these two artistic themes is just.so.cool!

see inspirations below:

jonathan safron foer's tree of codes

brian dettmer's "book autopsies" -- these are just so incredible.


nothing like a little art inspiration to get your tuesday started.  have a good one!

x!

my quarter-life crisis.

so, last night, after a wonderful day in venezia for carnevale, i was having a much-overdue skype catch up with the parents.

this is when it happened. my mom said, "elizabeth, i have some terrible news for you." after assuring me that no one was dead/seriously injured/ill, i (jokingly) asked, "haha did i get kicked off of your free flights?!" and she said, "no, but you will be in 2 weeks."  for some random reason, the airline decided that instead of allowing children to keep the benefits of free flights until their 25th birthday, they now will be cut off at age 24. and that will be me in 2 weeks.

for those of you who know me, at all, i used those free flights A LOT. what am i going to do?!?! last night i had dreams of being stuck in airports and all day today i've been feeling anxious, like i need to be going places! and doing things!

the bulk of my "move to new york in september" plan hinged upon the fact that NYC is a gateway city and i could very easily use the end of my free flights go visit all of the people i need to visit! what do i do now?! 


i mean, how do i get to alaska to visit seth? and to el salvador to visit jordan?! and to SD to visit amy and caitlin!? and all the other places i need to go?!?! i can't comprehend that i have to plan ahead more than 2 weeks and actually purchase plane tickets. it's blowing my mind. and before you call me out for sounding like a very spoiled brat -- i recognize that being able to travel for free is a MAJOR luxury. which is why i'm so distraught at having it taken away from me!!

the more i think about this, the more claustrophobic and stuck in one place it makes me feel.

xx

"what's the bora?" you ask. well, i have answers!

my friend, bien, recently asked to explain a bit more about what the bora actually was. in fact, the exact request was,

"please explain this "bora." i was looking at those pictures online and i read your blog, but... dear god! does that happen every year? just like that?? what do people do about their cars?? have sick "bora" car insurance?? how are you surviving this??! it looks terrifying slash really awesome because i like standing outside in hurricanes... the two times one's blown intensely through this part of virginia.


I WANT INFORMATION."


happily, i obliged to give a lesson on the weather of trieste. 

the bora is a north wind that comes to trieste from siberia. it's cold in siberia, thus, this wind is very cold.  trieste is "famous for" the bora.  we have the bora here like other places have snow in the winter -- it's our severe weather.  the bora will be around usually for 3-4 days at a time and beautiful weather can follow. it's exceptionally miserable when the boar is paired with a rainstorm -- this combination makes the use of an umbrella simply laughable. 

yes, it does happen every year and all the time however, this year (this week) there have been record-breaking wind speeds.  i think it got up to 140-170kph which is really fast.  it usually is pretty strong winds -- there are banisters along the sidewalks throughout the city so that when the bora blows you can hold on to stop yourself from being blown into oncoming traffic -- but this week has been particularly bad.  many triestini people that i've talked to have said that this is as bad as they've seen it in 10/15/50 years (it varies but the conclusion is that it's bad) and i'm pretty sure that they should've cancelled school. 

again, here are the photos of the bora this week.  the 2 most hilarious things that have happened this week because of the bora are:

1. the shutter on my window got shattered in half and blown off of the outside wall of my apartment one night.  would have sucked if i owned or rented my apartment. but since the school does, it's not my problem and is allowed to be hilarious. 

2.  there are a bunch of cranes down by the water and one of them FLOATED AWAY the other day. just like floated out to sea.  the wind just blew it out there. there are some pictures of this on both of those links i just pasted. 

one not-so-hilarious thing is that a ton (like 150) of people have been hospitalized from bora-related injuries.  these include being hit in the head by something that was blown off of something else as well as injuries from the wind picking people up and slamming them back down onto the ground. isn't that INSANE?! the wind slamming you down onto the ground so hard that you have to go to the hospital. 

again, i think school should have been cancelled all week because i have to walk about a mile to school each morning and i could have been hit in the head or slammed onto the ground. and i'm pretty sure my insurance would not cover such problems. 

other people's insurance, however, i think, does cover bora-related problems. like if something falls on your car or house from the bora then it's covered by insurance, i think. i asked but no one seems to be totally sure. 

and yes, it is terrifying. i have been having the craziest dreams this week -- the wind is SO LOUD outside my window and we are on the top floor of our apartment building so we could feel the whole apartment shaking at times.  also! i have to ride a bus/tram up a mountain each morning to school and riding a bus that's driving up the side of a mountain with insane gusts of wind is not my favorite morning-time activity. 

SO! that's a lot of information about the bora. and as you may understand, the weather here has contributed to my decision to not stay here another year. BUT! the bora is gone today and behind it has come beautiful blue skies and warmer weather. AND! it's friday! 

any questions?!

x!

the bora.

for those of you who are unacquainted with the bora, it is a north wind that trieste is "famous for."  it comes to us from russia, making it nice and chilly.  today, the bora is as bad as it's been since we've been here.

it's terrifying, actually. we're having gusts of 120kph+ wind and you can hear them everywhere. walking home, it was literally blowing us into things.  i mean, that's legitimate hurricane speed winds!

oh, and it just blew the shutter off of my bedroom window. oops?!

maybe school will be cancelled?

x!

check out v's post on the bora. 

UPDATE! check out this article for some photos of the bora and its damage from around trieste today.  sadly, school was not cancelled, so we had to walk and bus to school today.  walking was difficult and there were roof tiles and upside down things all over the sidewalks.  and the bus ride up the mountain was terrifying. and now it's snowing.

ALSO, multiple people at school today (who have lived in trieste fore their whole lives) were saying that they have never seen the bora this bad before.